The visit of the Syrian prime minister comes in the wake of Shamkhani’s last week visit to Syria and his meetings with the country’s senior officials with an aim to coordinate efforts for the peace process.

During his visit to Damascus last Sunday which lasted for a few hours, Shamkhani met with Syrian President Bashar Assad where the Iranian official had stressed that political talks should be held among Syrians and managed by them, while the United Nations and effective countries merely help with the facilitation of the negotiation process. He had also called on supporters of terrorists to rectify their past conduct to prevent further damage to their international position.

Prime Minister Khamis and Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Shamkhani will discuss various topics during the Tuesday meeting in Tehran including: continuation of consultations between the two countries and following up on agreements in the fields of economy, politics and security; assessing strategies for persevering and expanding the recent achievements in Syria, particularly the liberation of the strategic city of Aleppo; exchanging views on joint follow-up on political processes; and developing the level of economic relations and extending them to the area of infrastructure and strategic fields.

Khamis’s visit to Tehran comes only a week ahead of Iran-Russia-Turkey meeting in Astana where representatives from Syrian government and the opposition groups will sit down at the negotiating table in an attempt to reach a positive result to end the six-year-long conflict in the Arab country.